


Last Tuesday

by gardnerhill



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Community: watsons_woes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25459162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: So how was your week?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Watson's Woes JWP Collection: 2020





	Last Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2020 July Watson's Woes Promptfest prompt #22, **Miss Bechdel, I Presume?:** See if you can create a Watson's Woes work that passes the Bechdel-Wallace Test (have two named women talk to each other about something other than a man).

"And that's when I got arrested." Mary took a ridiculously demure sip of tea.

Violet wiped her eyes. "You're proud of that, you dangerous radical, you!"

"Mrs. Pankhurst is quite correct. Harming other people in the name of our cause is wrong as well as counter-productive. Harming _property_ is another matter."

"Especially if it's just a bit of mud and some pompous parliamentarian."

"Exactly. Those hats are shockingly expensive, it turns out. But if they're going to treat us like naughty children, we'll act like naughty children."

Violet cocked her head. "Don't your husband and his friend … object to this kind of law-breaking?"

"As you yourself learned, my husband's friend takes the side of justice when the law is wrong. I know John is proud of me, and I'm quite sure Mr. Holmes feels the same." Mary laughed. "Which isn't to say that John doesn't get irritated. When he came to bail me out, he said, 'Couldn't you just have a love affair while I'm away, like other wives?'"

When they stopped laughing a few minutes later their discussion continued, with Violet's input. "My week wasn't nearly as interesting as yours! Though I did start research on one of my pupils' suitor to ensure she was making a wise choice." She reached for another crumpet. "I can do that without having the vote. It does seem like a lot of fuss and bother you're all going through, when so many women don't care about suffrage."

Mary's hands tightened on the teacup and her pleasant smile remained frozen in place while she mentally counted to ten. _Do not harm other people in the name of our cause…_ "Violet. You know how unfair the laws about money are in this country, especially ones about women's wages and inheritance rights – there's a reason we call poorhouses 'old ladies' homes.' Well, who makes those laws? And who votes for those lawmakers?"

Violet Hunter set her crumpet down. One hand unconsciously reached up to the shoulder-length shorn edge of her lovely hair.

Mary nodded. "Suffrage isn't about being troublemakers, or wanting to wear trousers and smoke horrid cigars the way so many say. It's about the pebbles that build an empire – and giving women those pebbles as well. It would be nice if some of the laws were a better fit for us and our children. There's a lot of poetic talk about women's duty to raise sons to run England, that we can rule the world via the nursery. But voting is how the real work is done. That is how we see it."

Violet nodded. "I'll think about what you said."

An uphill climb – so many women thought like Violet. But it was a start. "Thank you. Now, about this suitor. Will subterfuge be needed again?"

Violet grinned, once more upon the subject that had had her request Mary's company. "You do steer a pram in as motherly a fashion as I've ever seen. Shall we go past his house tomorrow morning?"


End file.
